Keira Knightley says prostitution is only job women make more money

Keira Knightley has balanced a successful career as a model and an actress in independent films, period dramas and blockbuster films.

The British-born star, 35, who next appears in beauty pageant film Misbehaviour, weighed in on the ‘complexity of being a woman in the modern age’ in an interview with Stellar magazine in Australian newspaper The Sunday Telegraph this week.

When asked how she related to the feminists in the film who protested during the live broadcast of the 1970 Miss World beauty pageant, Keira gave a candid response. 

‘I read the script and I naturally totally agreed with the second-wave feminists [protesting] and yet I’ve made most of my money as a model [for Chanel],’ she said.

‘I go on red carpets where you’re given marks out of 10 and you have cameras up and down your body. I think that’s the complexity of being a woman in the modern age.’   

Keira went on to say that there is still a gender pay gap, with only two jobs offering women more money than men.

‘Still the number one career in the world – the only one – where a woman can earn more than a man is modelling. Or prostitution,’ she said, adding that the importance of looks forms ‘the world we still live in today’.   

Keira, who has starred in films such as Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, added that while she is against the objectification of women, she is also grateful to have had such an illustrious career that has offered her so many wonderful opportunities. 

Misbehaviour not only centres on patriarchal systems and misogynistic attitudes, but also how women are pitted against one another.

In an interview with Net-a-Porter earlier this year, Keira spoke about double standards, suggesting that ‘maybe we judge each other more harshly sometimes’.

‘It’s an uncomfortable thing to address, particularly within yourself. You can suddenly think, “Oh my god, where did that come from? I would never have done that to a man”.’   

Keira, who shares two children with husband James Righton, went on to say that she was captivated by a scene in the film where a nursery at a women’s liberation meeting was filled with men.  

‘It’s not expected that men should look after their children; it’s seen as a bonus. Even in the workplace, my husband is never asked about childcare, whereas that would be asked of me: “So what are you doing with the kids?”‘

Misbehaviour is in Australian cinemas from November 26.